Global Alpha Forum 2016

Why Do Investors Attend Global Alpha Forum?

Industry Leading Panels & Speakers

Global Alpha Forum provides industry leading content including both topical keynote speakers and issue driven panel discussions. These panels and speakers cover far more than the current state of the alternative investment industry; they take a deep dive into where our sector is moving and cover the latest and biggest trends. Allocator and managers alike will find it extremely productive to explore new directions in fund investing.

1-on-1 Investor / Manager Meetings

The conference will have two days of 30 minute 1-on-1 meetings. We use a proprietary online meeting scheduler to allow you to pre-plan your meetings during the designated time blocks (see agenda). To maximize the efficacy of these meetings, investors, fund managers and prospects will upload basic investment criteria, and uniform one page “tear sheets” to the scheduling portal.

Sponsors

Maximized brand exposure & product visibility before, during and after the conference.

Additional Symposiums

4 Additional Symposiums During Global Alpha

For the 2016 edition of the Global Alpha Forum, we will be also be hosting four topic specific symposiums to more precisely address distinct alternative investment segments. In addition to providing targeted content, these symposiums will allow for companies to directly network with Venture Capital, Private Equity and Family Office investors. Please click on one of the Symposiums below to learn more.

Should I Stay or Should I Go? Institutional Investors' Perspective on Hedge Funds

In this 45 minute panel, U.S. public pension plan investment staff discuss what’s happening to hedge funds in their implementation toolbox. Equities and fixed-income continue to generate unexpected positive returns while hedge funds generally remain challenged. It won’t always be this way, we think, but it sure feels like it will. Why are some plans clearly moving away from hedge funds when others are not? What are the causes for concern among investment staff and their CIOs and Boards? For those plans sticking with hedge funds, what do they need from managers to help make the case?

By Train

History

Providing the Alternative Investment Industry with the most relevant speakers and networking since 2007

2007

Conference Launch

First annual conference in Greenwich, CT with keynote speaker Nouriel Roubini, who warned about the impending banking crisis. Other notable speakers included Anthony Ryan of the US Treasury Dept. and Roger Ibbotson of Yale University and Zebra Capital.

2008

Rudy Giuliani & Larry Summers

Global Alpha Forum hosted its second annual conference in Greenwich, CT with keynote speakers including Larry Summers, former Secretary of the Treasury, and Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City.

2009

CT Hedge Fund Day

Global Alpha Forum’s third conference in Greenwich, CT with keynote speaker John Thain, the former CEO of Merrill Lynch, who spoke about how Wall Street has not yet learned its lessons. Connecticut Governor Jody Rell declared the day “Connecticut Hedge Fund Day”.

2011

Gov. Malloy Delivers Keynote

In 2011, Global Alpha Forum conference in Greenwich, CT featured a keynote speech by Dan Malloy, the Governor of Connecticut. Other notable speakers were Michael Darda of MKM Partners and Richard Breeden of Breeden Capital.

2013

Global Alpha in NYC

In 2013, the Global Alpha Forum was held for the first time in New York City at the New York Athletic Club. Keynote speakers included Greg Lippman of LibreMax providing his unique perspective on global markets.

2015

Global Alpha Returns To CT

Global Alpha Forum returned to Connecticut, hosting its conference in Greenwich. Our best-in-class content included Marc Lasry and Nouriel Roubini and was augmented by one-on-one meetings between Investors and Fund Managers.

Gold Sponsors

Franklin Square

\"FS Investments was founded on the principle that all investors deserve better choices. Dissatisfied with the limited options available to the investing public, we set out to create a better solution. We’re proud to give every investor access to alternatives and set the industry standard for transparency and best practices.\" - Michael C. Forman, Chairman & CEO, FS Investments

Sponsors

Madison Trust Company

Madison Trust Company is a South Dakota chartered full service self-directed custodian with deep experience in the gamut of Self Directed investment vehicles including Self Directed IRAs, Solo 401ks and IRA LLCs.

The brainchild of former by Wall Street veterans and career investment sponsors; Madison has developed a niche partnering with hedge funds, private equity, private placement and crowdfunding sponsors to open up their offerings to the largest pool of available liquidity in the United States.

Our platform allows for seamless and integrated onboarding of investors with knowledgeable and timely support coupled with a very competitive fee structure. Sponsors typically work with a single point of contact and receive a personalized and customized level of service as well as specialized support from marketing to onboarding to investment.

Lyxor Asset Management S.A.S. (together with its subsidiaries, “Lyxor”) has specialized in managed account investing since 1998, and was one of the first managed account platform providers for liquid alternative investments. Additionally, Lyxor advises clients in non-hedge fund strategies including index investing (simple and “smart” indices), mutual funds, alternative risk premia and debt investing. Lyxor is one of the largest ETF providers in Europe. Headquartered in Paris, it is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Societe Generale, one of Europe’s largest financial services organization. Lyxor employs approximately 600 people and manages approximately USD 130 billion AuM as of August 31, 2016.

Our fully furnished executives offices and conference/training rooms are designed for executives, professionals and businesses needing office space for short or extended terms. Our friendly, professional staff and support services will help your business grow and achieve success.

We are conveniently located at 30 Old Kings Highway South, across the street from the Darien Metro North Train Station - only two blocks from the I95 corridor between the cities of Stamford and Norwalk

Office Suites of Darien is home to a wide range of businesses; financial service firms, investment and fund managers, branch offices, entrepreneurs, consultants, executive recruiters and attorneys.

Fundbase delivers to qualified investors a seamlessly integrated and web-based platform to discover, execute and monitor complex investments such as hedge funds and other high-conviction investments along with the long-only part of their portfolio. It builds on trusted real world connections between qualified investors and fund managers utilizing the latest in technology. It is accessible for free with the firm goal to positively disrupt the current investment process’ efficiency, economics and performance.

Keynote Speaker

Doug Haynes

Doug Haynes

President, Point72 Asset Management

Doug Haynes is the President of Point72 Asset Management, L.P., originally joining the Firm as Managing Director of Human Capital in February 2014. Prior to joining Point72, Mr. Haynes was a Director at McKinsey & Company. Before joining McKinsey in 1992, Mr. Haynes worked for the Central Intelligence Agency and then GE’s advanced materials business, which is now part of Sabic International.

Mr. Haynes earned a BS summa cum laude in Mechanical Engineering from West Virginia University, and received his MBA at the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate Business School, where he was a Shermet Scholar. Mr. Haynes is an active community member, dedicating a significant portion of his efforts to supporting Veterans’ initiatives. In addition to serving on the Board of the Robin Hood Foundation, Mr. Haynes helped launch its Veterans Advisory Board which raised over $12 million to support the increase in veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and also works with New York-based companies to create more job opportunities for veterans. Mr. Haynes serves on the Corporate Advisory Board of the Darden Graduate School of Business, the Board of the Canterbury School, SingTel’s Technology Advisory Board, and the Board of the Center for Global Enterprise.

Featured Speakers

Patrick Adelsbach

Patrick Adelsbach

Head of Credit Strategies, Aksia

Patrick has over 18 years of financial markets experience including 16 years focused on research and investment management. He is the Head of Credit Strategies and is responsible for the sourcing, strategy research, and risk management of credit and event driven investments. Prior to Aksia, Patrick oversaw all Event Driven investments and was a member of the Hedge Fund Investment Group Investment Committee at Credit Suisse.

Patrick started his career at Capital One Financial Corporation where he focused on consumer credit products, later joining a small team to identify credit-focused joint ventures between Capital One and Nedcor, one of South Africa’s largest commercial and investment banks. In 2000, he joined the fund of hedge funds investment management group at Credit Suisse, where he became a generalist for manager research and selection. In 2003, concurrent with the formation of the Hedge Fund Investment Group, he was promoted to manage the group’s investments in the Event Driven and Fixed Income Emerging Markets sectors. He remained head of Event Driven investments when the firm combined the investment activities of the Alternative Capital Division and Private Bank in January 2006.

Patrick graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997 with a B.S. in Economics from The Wharton School and a B.A.S. in Systems Engineering from the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Reed Balmer

Reed Balmer

Partner, Finn Dixon & Herling

Reed represents registered and unregistered investment advisers, particularly in connection with the formation and management of unregistered private funds. Reed specializes in the life cycle of private equity funds,venture capital funds and hedge funds, and also has broad experience representing funds of-funds, family offices institutional investors, foundations, broker-dealers and commodity pools. His clients invest in assets ranging from private companies to structured loan obligations to publicly traded securities to real estate to commodities to energy futures and more. He also represents foreign advisers and funds regarding private offerings into the United States.

marketing to prospective investors and communicating with existing investors

regulatory compliance and negotiating with service providers.

Reed assists investment advisers with state and federal registration filings as well as developing and implementing policies and procedures to address the resulting compliance obligations. He has also assisted his clients in preparing for,managing and responding to examinations by state and federal regulatory authorities. Reed also advises family offices on matters ranging from capital formation and compliance with applicable regulatory guidelines to negotiating transaction terms and structuring investments to employment and succession matters.

Prior to joining Finn Dixon & Herling LLP, Reed was an associate at Sidley Austin LLP in their Investment Funds, Advisers and Derivatives Practice Group in New York.

Lance Baraker

Weeden & Co.

Director

Kira Bazile

Kira Bazile

Director, Wells Fargo Prime Services

Ms. Bazile is a Director of Prime Brokerage at Wells Fargo Securities, LLC. Ms. Bazile has been in the prime brokerage component of the hedge fund industry for over 19 years. Most recently she was President of North Street Global, LLC, where she oversaw the Fund Services, Investment Banking and Global Markets businesses. Prior, she spent four and half years as Managing Director at BTIG, LLC where she focused on developing its Prime Brokerage & execution products for emerging hedge fund managers. She began her prime brokerage career at Goldman Sachs in 1997 where she spent four years managing a client service team that covered some of the industry\'s largest hedge fund managers. She then made the move to Deutsche Bank for eight years where she helped build the synthetic financing and derivatives platform within the newly formed Global Prime Services division. She began her career auditing the trading desks at Morgan Stanley and Chemical Bank.

Brody Browe

Brody Browe

Senior Vice President of Investment Management, FS Investments

Brody J. Browe is Senior Vice President of Investment Management at FS Investments. He leads the firm’s institutional group and is a key member of FS Investments’ investment team. As part of the investment team, he collaborates with the management and fund development teams to ensure the firm’s investment offerings are aligned with the interests of institutional advisors and their clients. Before joining FS Investments, Mr. Browe served as Managing Director at Stark Investments, a $14 billion global alternative investment firm, where he was a member of the investment team for its direct lending strategy. Prior to this role, he spent nine years as Executive Director at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. During his last five years at Morgan Stanley, he served on the portfolio team in its alternative investments division, where he worked on a number of investment strategies including credit funds, multi-strategy funds and equity long/short funds. Mr. Browe is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and holds series 7 and 63 licenses. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Miami University.

David Burke

David Burke

Partner and Chief Client Officer , MKP Capital Management

Mr. Burke is a Managing Director primarily focused on marketing and strengthening existing client relationships. Prior to joining the firm in 2011, Mr. Burke served as the Head of Strategic Initiatives at Arrowhawk Capital Partners from 2009 to 2011, leading all marketing and client development initiatives.

Prior to Arrowhawk, Mr. Burke worked as the Head of Client Product Services for DEPFA Bank leading client and proprietary municipal derivatives, tender option bond, municipal reinvestments and public pension coverage businesses. In 2004, Mr. Burke was a volunteer and member of the National Finance Committee for Bush-Cheney ‘04. In 2003, Mr. Burke founded Silverhurst Group LLC; acting as full-time outsourced corporate finance and COO for a single-family office.

Prior to Silverhurst, Mr. Burke was a Vice President in Debt Capital Markets at Merrill Lynch originating cash and derivatives transactions across the capital structure for clients in EMEA and the US, focusing on emerging markets and financial institutions.

Mr. Burke serves on the Board of Directors for the Connecticut Hedge Fund Association. He received a B.S. in Management from Binghamton University (1992).

Mr. Coleman previously worked at Golub Capital, where he served in various capacities, including as Managing Director in the direct lending group and as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of its business development company (BDC). Before he joined Golub Capital in 2005, he worked in merchant and investment banking at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Wasserstein Perella & Co.

Mr. Coleman earned a BA in History from Princeton University and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School, where he received the Loeb Award for academic excellence in finance

Andrew Dougherty

Andrew Dougherty

Head of Alternative and Institutional Solutions, BNP Paribas

Andrew Dougherty is Managing Director & Head of Alternative and Institutional Solutions for BNP Paribas Securities Services. He also serves as a Director of BNP Paribas Bank & Trust Cayman Limited. He has been with BNP Paribas for more than 16 years.

In his current role, Mr. Dougherty is responsible for managing the group’s North American hedge fund administration platform and related business lines, including custody and financing for fund of hedge funds, middle office outsourcing, and enhanced performance and risk reporting solutions for asset managers. Mr. Dougherty has dual location responsibilities in New York and King of Prussia, PA, the operations hub for the Americas.

Previously, Mr. Dougherty served as Chief Operating Officer for BNP Paribas Financial Services, where he was responsible for all operational and information technology aspects of the aforementioned business lines. Before this, Mr. Dougherty worked at CooperNeff Advisors where served as Vice President, Market Control & Development with responsibility for the risk control, middle office, and IT development groups of CooperNeff on both the proprietary trading and hedge fund areas of the business.

Mr. Dougherty holds a BS in Financial Services from Delaware Valley College and an MBA in Finance and Management from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.

Pierre duPont

Pierre duPont

Partner, HPM Partners

Prior to joining HPM Partners, Pierre was an advisor to three early-stage internet companies helping them develop their initial business plans, identify capital sources, and make initial team hires. He also worked with several emerging hedge funds and VC firms to secure their first capital and create initial internal structures.

Pierre was previously at Two Sigma Investments, a diversified hedge fund with $8 billion under management across global equities, currencies and commodities. At Two Sigma, he managed several activities: he was responsible for clean-energy investing, VC investing and Chinese private equity investing with Two Sigma’s proprietary capital; he was responsible for Two Sigma’s Asia/Pacific business development and investor relations, raising capital from the major institutional investors in each part of the region and developing close relationships with more than 200 institutional and family-office investors in the region.

Pierre is a member of the New York Hedge Fund Roundtable, the International Executive Resources Group and The Economic Club of New York. He is also on the Advisory Board of the Center on Business and Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Pierre earned his B.Sc.E. from Princeton University. He holds Series 7 and 63 licenses.

E. Brian Finkelstein

E. Brian Finkelstein

CEO and Chairman, Madison Trust

Mr. Finkelstein, CEO and Chairman of Madison Trust, has decades of experience as an executive leader consistently at the nexus of finance and technology. He has led Wall Street investment banks, fintech corporations as well as international communication companies.

His experience working both on and off wall street gave birth to Madison’s combination of financial sophistication, technology focus and client centric orientation.

Prior to his time at Madison Mr. Finkelstein served as Managing Director and Head of Global Repo Trading & Sales for UBS and Kidder Peabody as well as President and CEO of Helix Financial Systems, a subsidiary of Cantor Fitzgerald, where he managed the development of systems successfully marketed and sold to major financial institutions.

In addition to his present role as CEO of Madison Trust he is also the Chairman and CEO of Stonefield Investments, a specialized hedge fund investing in tax liens across the United States.

Ron Geffner

Sadis & Goldberg

Patrtner

Gary Glaser

Gary Glaser

Private Debt Specialist, Mercer Investment Consulting

Gary Glaser is a Private Debt Specialist in the private markets group of Mercer Investment Consulting. Over the course of thirty years in the investment business, Gary has held positions in equity research, fund management and investment banking. Important associations include Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., First Boston Corp. and Belle Haven Investments. Immediately prior to joining Mercer in November, 2012, Gary served as President of Beacon Capital Advisors, LLC, an investment banking boutique focused on privately held mid-market companies.

John Guinee

John Guinee

Managing Partner, Constitution Capital Partners

Mr. Guinee is responsible for the origination, evaluation, negotiation, monitoring and disposition of private equity investments. He is a member of the Investment Committee. Prior to founding Constitution Capital, Mr. Guinee was an Investment Director for Standard Life Investments Private Equity USA and a member of the Investment Committee. Previously, he was a Vice President of Business Development at State Street Corporation. Mr. Guinee started his private equity career at GE Capital’s Corporate Finance Group, where he was a member of the Corporate Restructuring Group. Mr. Guinee earned his BS in Finance from Babson College, received his MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management and is a graduate of GE’s Financial Management Program.

Andre Hollis

Andre Hollis

CEO, Tiger International Advisors

Mr. Andre Hollis is the Chief Executive Officer and majority owner of Tiger International Advisors, LLC, an internationally focused strategic business development, consulting and due diligence Firm with offices in the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Tiger Principals possess over 300 years of collective experience in international commerce, law, global cyber security, law enforcement, Government service, banking and other industries.

A 1988 Distinguished Military Graduate of Princeton University, Mr. Hollis earned a commission in the United States Army. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1991 and practiced as a commercial litigator in State and Federal Courts throughout the United States. From 1998 to 2001, he served as Counsel and Senior Counsel for the House of Representatives’ Committees on Commerce and Government Reform. Mr. Hollis accepted an appointment as the Department of Defense Deputy Assistant Secretary for Counternarcotics in 2001. In that role, Mr. Hollis was responsible for oversight, budget, policy and programming for the Department’s 280 domestic and international programs and a $1.4 billion annual budget.

Mr. Hollis later joined Van Scoyoc Associates, the largest privately owned government relations Firm in Washington, as a Vice President and focused on Defense, Homeland Security and Intelligence programs. Mr. Hollis became CEO of Tiger in 2006 and majority owner in 2007.

Mr. Hollis has received numerous professional and civic recognitions, including Big Brother of the Year for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the National Capital Area and Scouter of the Year for Boy Scouts of the National Capital Area. The Departments of Defense and Homeland Security recognized Mr. Hollis with their Medal for Exceptional Public Service and Distinguished Public Service Award, respectively.

Mr. Hollis and his wife, Katy, reside in Northern Virginia with their two sons.

Gretchen Lam

Gretchen Lam

Portfolio Manager, Octagon Credit Investors, LLC

Ms. Lam is a member of Octagon’s Investment Committee and serves as the Portfolio Manager of six CLOs, three Separately Managed Accounts, and three Private Commingled Funds. Ms. Lam serves as the PM for the Firm’s Structured Credit (CLO Debt & Equity) Investment Strategies. Prior to becoming a Portfolio Manager, Ms. Lam oversaw Octagon\\\'s investments in the software, business services, finance & insurance, paper & packaging, gaming & lodging, homebuilding and real estate industries. She was also responsible for the structured credit exposure held in Octagon’s CLO vehicles. Prior to joining Octagon in 1999, Ms. Lam attended Babson College where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. in Investments. She received her CFA Charter in 2006.

Carrie Lo, CFA, CAIA

Cal. State Teachers’ Ret. System

Portfolio Manager, Risk Mitigating Strategies

Henry Ma

Henry Ma

President, Chief Investment Officer, Julex Capital

Dr. Ma has twenty years of investment management experience. He worked as a hedge fund manager, Director of Quantitative Research and asset allocation strategist in institutions like Geode Capital, Fortis Investments, Loomis Sayles, Sun Life and John Hancock. Dr. Ma is a published author and an industry speaker.

Paul Marino

Marino Partners

Managing Partner

Alex Mascioli

North Street Global

CEO

Jeffrey Megar

Jeffrey Megar

Managing Director , Julex Capital

Mr. Megar has over twenty years of investment experience. He served as a senior portfolio manager with State Street Global Advisors and Fortis Investments and Cypress Tree Investment Management. Mr. Megar is a specialist in high yield bond and leveraged loan asset classes.

Carl Metzger

Carl Metzger

Partner, Goodwin Procter

Carl Metzger is a partner in the firm’s Litigation Department and is the Chair of the firm’s Risk Management & Insurance practice. His clients include both public and private companies, insurance carriers and brokerages, private equity and venture capital firms, and non-profit and educational institutions. Mr. Metzger’s experience includes securities litigation defense, financial fraud litigation, governmental and self-regulatory organization investigations, and complex business disputes. He specializes in advising clients on director and officer liability, insurance coverage matters, liability risk prevention and litigation due diligence in connection with mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Metzger has been recognized as a “Massachusetts Super Lawyer” and a “New England Super Lawyer” as published by Boston magazine, and has been elected as a Fellow of the American College of Coverage and Extracontractual Counsel (ACCEC). He has been a Lexology’s Client Choice Award exclusive winner and a Corporate LiveWire Global Award winner for expertise in his field. Mr. Metzger writes and speaks nationally on litigation-related topics, and he has been quoted in such media outlets as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Corporate Board Member Magazine and CFO Magazine. Throughout his career, Mr. Metzger has played leading roles in a variety of professional and civic organizations. He currently is a board member of the Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS), the American Camp Association, and the Squam Lakes Conservation Society.

Kevin Edwards

Lucjan Orlowski

Lucjan Orlowski

Prior to joining Sacred Heart University, Professor Orlowski taught at New York University and before that at the Karol Adamiecki University of Economics in Katowice, Poland.

He collaborates with a number of research institutes and universities around the world. Some of his current and past research affiliations include: Research Professor at the Halle Institute for Economic Research in Halle, Germany; a Senior Fellow at the Center for Economic and Social Research (CASE) in Warsaw; a Research Fellow at the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan; a Senior Fellow at the Center for European Integration Studies (ZEI) at the University of Bonn; and Research Professor at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) in Berlin. He has guest-lectured at the University of Rome III, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Warsaw, and the School for Modern Business Studies in Hungary.

Professor Orlowski has been advising several financial and government institutions in the United States and Europe. From 1998 to 2001 he served as a Member of the Macroeconomic Policy Council of Poland’s Ministry of Finance and from 2002 to 2006 as a Senior Adviser to the National Bank of Poland. He was a member of the U.S. Government Mission to Eastern Europe.

He is a member of Executive Board of Association for Comparative Economic Studies (ACES) and a member of the Advisory Council of CASE in Warsaw. He served on the Advisory Board of the DRI-WEFA Group in Washington, D.C.

He serves on Editorial Boards of Comparative Economic Studies and Banks and Bank Systems. He is an Associate Editor of Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, a Regional Editor of Journal of Emerging Markets and a Guest Editor ofOpen Economies Review and Economic Systems.

Chris Ray

Chris Ray

Chris Ray joined ACA Compliance Group (“ACA”) in September 2013 as a Senior Principal Consultant. As his primary responsibility, he conducts mock investment adviser and hedge fund inspections. Chris also helps clients prepare for SEC examinations, develop customized policies and procedures, and train employees on compliance-related issues.

Prior to joining ACA, Chris served as a regulator at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (Investment Adviser/Investment Company) in Washington, DC. While there, he led and participated in numerous investment adviser, hedge fund, and investment company examinations. Chris also led national sweep examinations, various market-driven special projects, and national training sessions. As a Securities Compliance Examiner and Staff Accountant, he referred several cases to the Division of Enforcement and was publicly acknowledged for his role in a mortgage-backed securities valuation case that recovered approximately $200 million for harmed investors.

Prior to joining ACA, Chris also fulfilled various compliance-related responsibilities at a macro hedge fund manager. He also managed the corporate bond pricing desk at a pricing service where he supervised the daily valuation of taxable fixed-income securities. Chris earned his BS in Finance and MBA from Canisius College.

Mark Riser

Morningside Private Investors

Partner

Mark Ritter

Mark Ritter

Executive In Residence, College of Business, Sacred Heart University

Executive In Residence, College of Business at Sacred Heart University. Mr. Ritter was the Chief Investment Officer for James Alpha Management Mortgage Fund in which he was part of a start-up trading the basis between TBA mortgages and Treasuries, applying leverage to enhance returns. Responsible for overall strategy and risk management of the portfolio. Mr. Ritter was the Chief Operating Officer Global Credit Trading for Deutsche Bank AG in New York City. He managed a team of 27 business managers globally and a team of 6 who were responsible for Risk Management of credit and market/ FX risk exposures. He also served as the Global Head of Commodities and Head of Foreign Exchanged during his years at Deutsche Bank. Mr. Ritter was also the Global Head of Commodities for UBS (Union Bank of Switzerland) and managed a team of 55 traders and sales people. While with UBS he served in various capacities since 2000 including Head of Credit Exposure Management, Credit Risk Framework and Head of Rates Structured Products US. Mr. Ritter was awarded by Risk Magazine, “Risk Manager of the Year” 2003. Mr. Ritter is currently a Board Member for Cipherpoint Technologies and an independent Member of the Board for Morgan Stanley Derivate Products, Inc. He obtained his degree in Economics from LA Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia.

Angelo Robles

Family Office Association

CEO

Bruce Rogers

Bruce Rogers

Regional Insurance Executive, First Niagara Risk Management

As the New England Regional Executive for First Niagara Risk Management, Bruce oversees the First Niagara Risk Management team that serves both the New England and Tri State regions. Bruce is the FNRM representative on both the New England and Tri State Regional CPI Committees for FNFG and sits on the Tri State Community Investment Committee. Bruce has over 20 years of experience handling diverse insurance programs for the Asset Management Industry including Investment Advisors, Hedge and Private Equity Funds. As FNRM’s Financial Services Practice Leader, Bruce coordinates all FNRM resources and ensures the team’s commitment to the combination of integrity and personalized, consultative service.

Bruce has 34 years of experience in the insurance and risk management industry. He joined the Taylor-Lawlor Group in 1982 and became a partner two years later. In 1990, he purchased a division of Taylor Lawlor and formed TLA Insurance, Inc. which he owned and managed for 14 years before merging with Pierson & Smith in 2004. In April 2011, Pierson & Smith was purchased by First Niagara and Bruce joined the firm in his current position. He has played a pivotal role in several major initiatives and goals, including driving the collaborative teamwork approach across FNFG business units, building brand identity and expanding the First Niagara footprint in New England through organic sales growth and strategic acquisitions.

Bruce earned a degree in International Trade and Finance from Princeton University. He is a graduate of the Aetna Commercial Insurance Sales and Marketing Program and has participated in advanced leadership training programs at the Wharton School of Business

During his insurance career, Bruce has participated on Regional Agents Advisory Councils for Travelers, CNA, Hanover and Tower Insurance companies. He is a past member of the National Advisory Councils for CNA and OneBeacon Insurance and the past National Chairman of the Advisory Council for Encompass Insurance. He has spoken at multiple industry panels and on behalf of Travelers Insurance as part of an elite group of agents at their 2008 Wall Street Investors Day.

Bruce has been an active Board Member for 25 years and is a past Board President of the Boys and Girls Club of Stamford. In 2015, he was honored with the Club’s distinguished “Guardian of the Community” award. Bruce also serves on the Board of Directors of The Travelers Championship PGA golf tournament. He has spent the last 30 years as an active martial artist earning the rank of sixth degree black belt and certified “master” instructor in the Tang Soo Do Mi Guk Kwan Association.

Samantha Rosenstock

State of New Jersey, Div. of Investments

Hedge Fund Portfolio Manager

Michael Rucci

Michael Rucci

President & CEO, Mitsubishi MUFG Investor Services US

Michael Rucci is currently the President/CEO of MUFG Investor Services (USA). He is directly responsible for the Fund Administration businesses in the US consisting of MUFG Capital Analytics (Private Equity – Dallas) as well as the recent acquisition of the US Mutual Fund Administration business in Rockville, Maryland. Michael is also responsible for Product Management/Development across MUFG Investor Services globally.

Prior to joining MUFG, Michael was the Head of the Americas for UBS Alternative Fund Services, which consisted of running all aspects of the business for the New York, Cayman and Toronto locations. Michael was also the Global Head of Operations for UBS Global Asset Management for the seven years preceding his role in UBS AFS.

Before joining UBS in 2005, Michael spent over six years in various roles at Goldman Sachs. Most recently as global head of data management and derivative valuations within Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s (GSAM) operations. Michael also spent four years at Chase where he held various roles in project management and business analysis.

Leor Shapiro

Leor Shapiro

Head of Capital Introduction, Jefferies

Leor Shapiro is Managing Director and Global Head of Capital Consulting at Jefferies LLC within the prime services division with oversight of Capital Introductions and Business Consulting Services. Leor is responsible for working with both existing and start-up hedge fund managers to help them launch, grow and evolve their businesses. His primary focus areas are working with seeder, early stage and institutional allocators, and helping a manager consider the best business model, marketing strategy and operational due diligence requirements in order to succeed. Prior to Jefferies, Leor was the Americas Head of Business Consulting at UBS Securities LLC for three years and worked closely with the sales and capital introductions teams within prime brokerage. Before that he spent 9 years focused on due diligence reviews of hundreds of hedge funds at Nexar Capital (now UBP Asset Management), La Fayette Management and Royal Bank of Canada in their structured products group.

Justin Shigemi

Justin Shigemi

Partner, Finn Dixon & Herling

His practice focuses on the representation of investment advisers, broker-dealers, private funds, including hedge funds, private equity funds and offshore funds, and institutional investors, including family offices. Mr. Shigemi advises as to all aspects of the fund structuring and formation process, preparation and review of fund offering documents and marketing materials,SEC and state investment adviser registration, CFTC commodity pool operator and commodity trading advisor registration, FINRA and NFA membership and other licensing matters, preparation and negotiation of marketing/introduction agreements, the development and implementation of compliance programs and procedures and ongoing compliance matters.

Mr. Shigemi received his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 2005, where he was the recipient of the Larry Fleisher Memorial Foundation Prize for extraordinary achievement in the area of Sports and Entertainment Law. He received a B.A., with Honors, from Yale University in 1998. Mr. Shigemi is admitted to practice in the States of Connecticut and New York.

Brian C. Shevland

Brian C. Shevland

CEO, Bluestone Capital Management

Brian Shevland began his career in 2000 focused on research and securities analysis. Prior to Bluestone, Brian founded and managed Shevland Capital, an investment management firm. He has significant experience in the analysis and trading of ETFs and equities as well as researching companies in a variety of industries and sectors. Brian graduated with a BS in Business from the Honors Scholars Program at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, studied International Finance at University of Roehampton in London, England, and completed coursework on investment management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Michael Tomchewsky

Crowe Horwath

Partner

Scott Wetherington

Scott Wetherington

Chief Investment Officer, Cavalier Investments

Scott has over 25 of investment management experience. Prior to joining Cavalier, Scott served as senior portfolio manager and chief investment strategist for Linder Capital Advisors from 2009 to 2016. At Linder, Scott was responsible for the firm’s investment process, portfolio allocation models, research and selection process for mutual funds and ETFs. Previously, Scott worked for ING Investment Management as a portfolio manager, overseeing active management of a multi-billion-dollar fixed income account.

Scott previously worked as an energy analyst at Mirant Incorporated and a liquidity manager and trader for an institutional money manager. Scott earned his B.B.A. in finance at James Madison University, and he also passed Level II of the CFA program. Scott lives in the Atlanta, Georgia area.

Scott is a frequent speaker at conferences on portfolio management, and has been honored as a guest speaker at Georgia Institute of Technology lecturing on portfolio management topics to undergraduate students.

Panelists and Speakers

Alain Bankier

Alain Bankier

Early Stage Investor and Serial Entrepreneur, New York Angels

Alain Bankier is an active early stage investor and entrepreneur, and invests in a variety of companies in the legal cannabis, technology and food/tech industries. As an active board member and advisor to a variety of companies, he has been instrumental in helping companies achieve their business milestones and exits/liquidity events. Alain is the co-founder of the New York Angels, one of the leading early stage investment groups in the US. He is also a member of ArcView. In the cannabis industry, Alain has invested in variety of (public and private) legal cannabis companies, including: cultivation, processing, dispensaries, R&D and technology, edibles and other ancillary businesses.

Until 2014, Alain was a shareholder and Co-President/CEO of The Manischewitz Company. He acquired the Manischewitz Company in 2008, through a merger with his operating company SFG. SFG’s strategy was to build value by acquiring companies that were in need of restructuring due to operational, branding or financial issues (and usually all three) and implementing an operational and financial “turn around” and growth plan.

Prior to his career in the food industry, Alain was a founder of an international boutique investment bank, which he sold to BNP Paribas in 1989 and where he remained as the Co-Head of Corporate Finance/Mergers and Acquisitions North Americas until 2001.

Alain has a BS from the Wharton School and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania. He also has an MBA from NYU Stern and from HEC Paris.

Mitchell Baruchowitz

Mitchell Baruchowitz

Founder and Managing Partner , Merida Capital Partners

Mitchell Baruchowitz is the Founder and Managing Partner of Merida Capital Partners, a recently launched cannabis infrastructure fund. As a cannabis financier and legal analyst, Mitchell has raised ~$70MM for cannabis-related businesses since 2012, primarily in medical–only cultivation and ancillary products that support cultivation operations. He is a former partner of Greenfield Capital, which is a significant investor in leading seed to sale tracking company BioTrackTHC. He has architected high scoring applications in Connecticut and Minnesota as the founder of cultivators Theraplant(CT), and Leafline Labs(MN). He still sits on the Board of Governors of Leafline, one of only two Minnesota licensed cultivators and is a Board Member of Frontier Financial Group, a leading cannabis data analytics company. Mitchell currently serves as Managing Director and Head of Investment Banking for Cavu Securities, where he was the investment banker for GrowGeneration, a chain of hydroponic retail stores. Mitchell is a former AGC and Chief Compliance Officer of publicly traded MarketAxess and General Counsel of Pali Capital. He has a B.A in History from Brandeis University and a JD from Boston University School of Law.

Roy Bingham

Roy Bingham

Founder & CEO, BDS Analytics

Roy Bingham is a Harvard MBA and former McKinsey consultant, a banker, a marketing executive and a serial entrepreneur. He grew up in the UK, was a banker/financier in London, then moved to the USA in 1993. He has been a partner in Health Business Partners, Health Strategy Consulting and Nutrition Business Journal – respectively, the leading M&A advisory, consulting and business news service for the natural product Industry. He hosted conferences such as The NBJ Summit, has spoken at hundreds of events, appeared on national TV and authored many articles.Roy started BDS Analytics after recognizing that the emerging cannabis industry lacked the kind of sophisticated, sales-based data that is both commonplace and essential in other, more established industries. Among his prior businesses, Bingham had been both an early investor in SPINS – a very successful data analytics company for the natural products industry and later an expert user of their data as a senior sales and marketing executive in natural products.

Jon Cooper

ebbu, LLC

Founder, CEO

Peter Dougherty

Peter Dougherty

Founder & CEO, Orion Paartners

oMedicinal Genomics - Prior to founding Orion Partners Peter helped close a $20M Private Equity lead C- round investment in Courtagen Life Sciences and Medicinal Genomics in a flat cap table and thru which Bain Capital joined the Board. Peter was the Consulting General Manager of Medicinal Genomics which is pioneering the genetics of Cannabis and Hemp for plant identity and safety.

oSequencia Technologies - Peter was also previously General Manager of Sequencia Technologies a cloud infrastructure consulting and implementation firm that along with Sea Street Technologies developed the first fully integrated cloud compute, storage and networking virtualization solution. Sequencia was started with Harley Stowell, the former Cisco CTO for the Global Service Provider 20 and self-funded thru a $35M venture micro-fund.

oCerteon - Peter was the CEO and Founder of Certeon Inc., the first virtualized WAN optimization and cloud interconnect software company which was acquired for $300k after the original Company had burned through $130M in venture funding and then raised $65M in venture funding before transacting Certeon to an international networking company.

oBitcasting - Prior to Certeon Peter was CEO of Bitcasting, the first universal multimedia player for the internet, in which he lead a leveraged buyout and then bootstrapped Bitcasting into early stage phase and acquisition by EMC.

oSkipper-Father-Husband- Peter is also the Skipper of ‘Peningo’ a custom Dubois 49 charter sailboat in Boston harbor, the proud father of 3 student athletes and husband to a top 10 Boston realtor, Eve Dougherty from the newest unicorn, COMPASS Realty.

Al Foreman

Al Foreman

Partner, CIO, Tuatara Capital

Al Foreman has over 17 years of experience in private equity, corporate finance, financial technology, and a broad portfolio of transaction experience that includes the origination, structuring, and execution of debt, equity, and M&A transactions globally, as both a principal and an agent. Mr. Foreman is currently a Partner and the Chief Investment Officer of Tuatara Capital. In this role Al is responsible for formulating Tuatara’s macro investment strategy, structuring and execution of new investments, operational due diligence, and he leads the Investment Committee.

Prior to co-founding Tuatara Capital in 2014, Al was a Managing Director with Highbridge Principal Strategies, LLC, a $30 Billion dollar alternative investment management business. Before joining Highbridge, Mr. Foreman spent over seven years as a senior banker in J.P. Morgan’s Investment Bank. Prior to J.P. Morgan, Mr. Foreman spent 6 years in the technology space at Vitech Systems Group (Equitrak) and Virtual Growth Inc. Earlier in his career Al was in the Private Bank at Citigroup, where he began as a Management Associate.

Al earned a B.S. in Finance from the University of Connecticut where he was a United Technologies Finance Scholar, and a two-time Scholar Athlete Award Winner. Al also holds a J.D. from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, where he was recognized as a Brown & Brown legal scholar, and an MBA from Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business. Mr. Foreman currently serves on the board of the University of Connecticut Foundation, and is a Member of the Nominating and Board Governance Committee and Athletic Steering Committee.

Alice Globus

Alice Globus

General Partner, Globus Growth - Family Office

Alice Globus has deep financial management experience and has been a director of a boutique investment banking and a co-founder of a financial advisory and business development firm with focus on the bio-tech and healthcare small-cap space. Other areas of investment knowledge include FDA, compliance, retail and technology. Alice also has strong operating experience in manufacturing and operations as Executive Chairman of her family’s company, Winky & Dutch, a premium, made in America, fashion and accessories brand. She is a General Partner and founder of Globus Growth (a fund in formation).

Alice Globus is a fierce supporter of women and role model for millennials. She is active as Co-Chairwoman of the Emerging Leader’s Committee of the Financial Women’s Association.

Alice has traveled extensively as part of her academic studies, conducting research in astrophysics via a grant from the National Science Foundation at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. She has also continued her research at the American Museum of National History, Princeton University and Columbia University. Alice holds a B.S. in Physics from Wells College and Ph.D studies and research in Theoretical Astrophysics at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Ms. Globus resides in the Flatiron District of Lower Manhattan.

Steve Gormley

Steve Gormley

Founding/ Managing Partner & CEO, Seventh Point, LLC

Steve is a renowned expert in the legal marijuana sector and whose analysis is featured prominently in outlets like Forbes, Wall Street Journal, CBS News, US News and World Report, Chicago Tribune, and Marketwatch. Steve served as Chief Business Development Officer and member of the Board of Directors for OSL Holdings, a publicly traded management services in the cannabis industry. OSL Holdings also owns and operates a hydroponics retail gardening supply enterprise. Steve is presently a founding partner and CEO at Seventh Point, LLC., a private equity firm that acquires and operates legal marijuana dispensary assets and legal marijuana.

Steve Gormley has nearly twenty years experience developing, branding, marketing, launching, managing and operating businesses in the US and international markets. He has lived and worked in Asia, Europe, South America and Australia. Steve got his start in media in television production in the early 90s. After developing content and producing for MTV, Paramount Pictures, Tribune and others, Steve leveraged his expertise in content into the on-line sector for a new media private equity fund in the late 90’s and early part of the new century. Steve helped develop, launch, manage and sell a number of new media properties and eventually founded a branded entertainment company in China. Steve has also served as managing director for a California based media private equity fund. He deployed C-Level Management Services specializing in startups and turn-arounds.

Alan Hirsch

Alan Hirsch

Principal , Diagnostic Lab Corporation

Alan Hirsch has extensive 30-year experience as an investment banker specializing in private and public small cap growth companies, as a savings and commercial banker and as an entrepreneur. Currently he is a Managing Director of the DAK Group, Ltd. and a Principal of Diagnostic Lab Corporation, Inc.

He started his career in commercial banking as a lending officer. During a ten-year period he financed nearly half a billion dollars worth of transactions. In 1986 Mr. Hirsch joined The Savings Bank of Rockland County and was appointed President of the bank’s commercial lending subsidiary, First American Mortgage. He was also a director. The bank was eventually sold to First Fidelity Bank of New Jersey. From 1992 Mr. Hirsch was an investment and merchant banker specializing in the public small-cap arena. He structured and completed numerous debt and equity transactions ranging from $5,000,000 to $20,000,000. He founded and financed Gig Wear Company, a specialized theme retailer, Grampa’s Pasta and Comedy Clubs with veteran actor Al Lewis, Porsche Audi of Rockland, Monroe Wire and Cable and Highland Self Storage. Mr. Hirsch served as a lender with ICE Capital Corp. ICE specializes in the securitization of revenues derived from Internet, Communications and Entertainment/Media companies. ICE’s clients included many distinguished Independent Music Groups, Software Publishers, and Independent Film Studios. In 2000 he managed the Wien Group. Inc. the corporate finance affiliate of Wien Securities Corp., a leading (top 5) NASDAQ market maker, where he eventually became the Executive Vice-President.

In March of 2004 Wien Securities was sold and he became a Partner at Lion Partners, Ltd. There he financed or advised on numerous transactions such as the IPO for Consonus, Inc., a credit facility for Crumbs Bake Shop, that went on to grow into a $66M IPO and restructures such as Limelight Media Group. He is frequent guest lecturer on Entrepreneurship and Finance. He is the author of A Guide For the Entrepreneur, a motivational and philosophical view of business and success.

Mowgli Holmes

Mowgli Holmes

Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer, Phylos Bioscience

Mowgli Holmes is the co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Phylos Bioscience, a cannabis genomics company based in Portland, Oregon. He is a biologist trained in molecular genetics, microbiology, and evolutionary theory. He received his PhD from Columbia University. He is a founding board member of both the Cannabis Safety Institute and the Open Cannabis Project, and is Chair of the Governor-appointed Oregon State Cannabis Research Task Force.

Robert Hunt

Robert Hunt

President, Teewinot Life Sciences

Mr. Hunt is currently the President of Teewinot Life Sciences. Rob has more than 10 years of experience in the cannabis industry as an attorney, a consultant, and a serial entrepreneur. Most recently, Rob was a founding Partner, and the Lead Industry Executive of Tuatara Capital, the largest private equity firm dedicated to cannabis based businesses in the World. In this role Mr. Hunt was responsible for leading Tuatara’s deal generation efforts, operational due diligence and the execution of new investments.

As an expert in and an advocate for the cannabis industry, Mr. Hunt has been interviewed by media outlets as diverse as: The BBC, The Street, BuzzFeed, Bloomberg, Entrepreneur Magazine, Fortune Magazine, US News & World Report, MarketWatch, Vice, PC Magazine, Equities.com as well as numerous other publications and media outlets.

Rob is an attorney in the State of Colorado. He graduated Suffolk University Law School in 2007 and the University of Vermont in 2003 where he was the Speaker of the Student Senate and active in fighting against laws that prevented students with prior arrests for drug possession from being able to obtain Federally-backed student loans.

Lance Johnstone

Lance Johnstone

Director, STAR Angel Network

Mr. Johnstone serves as Vice President of Business Development for Timeless Herbal Care and Director of its sports division. He is also currently a Partner of Star Angel Network and President of Bill Pickett Riding Academy. Mr. Johnstone has also served as a financial advisor with Merrill Lynch where he received has Series 7, 66 licenses as well as a Life, Health and Variable Insurance license. Mr. Johnstone has lectured at Wharton School of Business and been featured on Bloomberg TV, The New York Times, Philadelphia Business Journal and Forbes.com. He has also been the subject of a Harvard Business School case study.

Mr. Johnstone holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Sports Management, and Marketing from Temple University. He completed Harvard Business School’s Entrepreneurship Program, Wharton School of Business Management and Sports Initiatives Program and Stanford Business School’s Entrepreneurship Program.

Lance was a second round draft pick by the Oakland Raiders in the 1996 Draft and went on play 11 seasons in the NFL, with Oakland & Minnesota Vikings.

Matt Karnes

Matt Karnes

Founder and Managing Partner, GreenWave Advisors

Matthew (Matt) Karnes has over 20 years of diverse finance and accounting experience. Prior to founding GreenWave Advisors LLC, Matt worked in equity research focusing on the Radio Broadcasting and Cable Television industries for First Union Securities. Matt also covered Satellite Communication at SG Cowen and in addition, worked with the top ranked Consumer Internet analyst at Bear Stearns & Co – this team was consistently recognized by the Institutional Investor’s “All America Research Team”. As a sellside equity analyst, Matt authored and co-authored numerous emerging industry research reports including such names as Google, Sirius, XM Satellite Radio, DIRECTV and EchoStar Communications.

In his most recent role, Matt was Principal and Senior Equity Analyst at Bull Path Capital Management, a New York City based hedge fund, where he was responsible for investment strategies of emerging technologies primarily within the Technology, Media and Telecom sectors. Prior to his career on Wall Street, Matt held various finance and accounting positions at PriceWaterhouse Coopers and Deloitte as well as at Texaco Inc. where he worked throughout the U.S., Europe, The Caribbean and Asia. Additionally at Chase, Matt was responsible for implementing the bank’s corporate accounting policies on commodity, interest rate and foreign currency derivative products.

Matt graduated from Fordham University with an MBA in finance and earned a B.S. Business Administration with a double major in accounting and finance from Miami University (OH). Matt is also a Certified Public Accountant.

Shanel Lindsay

Shanel Lindsay

Founder and President, Ardent

Shanel Lindsay is an attorney, inventor, and cannabis advocate. Shanel graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Northeastern University School of Law and began her career as a judicial law clerk for the Massachusetts Superior Court. She then joined the Boston law firm of Sugarman, Rogers, Barshak and Cohen, serving as a civil litigator for Fortune 500 companies in the areas of business, insurance, and employment law before becoming Employment Counsel and Director of Human Resources for the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission. Shanel is an active member of the National Bar Association, previously serving as Deputy Regional Director from 2009-2013 and currently as a regional board member. With over a decade of experience processing cannabis for medicinal use, Shanel leveraged that knowledge and skill set to develop the Nova and Ardent\\\'s suite of products that allow patients to expertly make accurate therapeutics using any strain or form of the plant. A founding member and Co-Chair of the Northeast Cannabis Coalition, Counsel to the Massachusetts Patients Advocacy Alliance, and ardent advocate for cannabis legalization on the east coast, Shanel is dedicated to improving public understanding of cannabis’ medicinal benefits. She is certain that with increased education, research, and reliable clinical data, patients and doctors—even those who have not previously considered cannabis as an option—will discover it is a legitimate, viable, and safe treatment.

Brian Liston

Seed CX

Co Founder

Kevin McGovern

Kevin McGovern

Chairman and CEO, McGovern Capital

Kevin McGovern is the Chairman and CEO of McGovern Capital and The Water Initiative®, which co-creates customized and sustainable drinking water solutions through innovative partnerships with municipalities, business and local microentrepreneurs in developing and developed countries. The Water Initiative (“TWI”) is the first company in the world to be chosen by municipalities and healthcare companies to install point-of-drinking devices in lieu of central treatment plants and is a recipient of the Artemis Award as a global leader in advanced water technology. TWI has been chosen as exclusive product development partner to leading global municipalities, housewares, utility, healthcare, and mining companies.

Through McGovern Capital and its affiliates, he has co-founded over thirty (30) companies, six of which have become world/category leaders, has been lead negotiator/principal in over twenty (20) global joint ventures. McGovern Capital serves as an investment, strategy and licensing participant and advisor to global businesses. McGovern was a founder of SoBe Beverages, the fastest growing beverage company ever in the US (sold to Pepsi), and McGovern Capital was one of three owners of KX Industries, L.P., the largest manufacturer and worldwide source of carbon water purification filters, having invented and supplied PUR to P&G, the first end-of-tap filter to Brita, and the first refrigerator water filter to Electrolux. He also created the program, supervised and negotiated all licensing of Tristrata’s alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) patents, which technology was incorporated in approximately 40% of all global skin care products, and is sold in approximately 84 countries. He serves/served on many public and private boards including The Sports Authority (Exec. Committee – NYSE).

Mr. McGovern is also known for his nanotechnology involvement, serving as co-chairman of Angstrom Publishing LLC, which together with Forbes publishes a global monthly Nanotechnology newsletter currently entitled The Forbes/Wolfe Emerging Tech Report. He is a member of the National Board of the Smithsonian (the world’s largest research and museum institution) and is a Trustee Emeritus and a Presidential Councilor (highest honor to alumnus) of Cornell University (having served as the Co-Chairman of the Technology Transfer Committee). Mr. McGovern was named the Cornell \\\"Entrepreneur of the Year\\\" in 2007, was given St. John\\\'s University School of Law’s \\\"Distinguished Alumni Award\\\" and awarded The East West Institute\\\'s \\\"Global Game Changer Award\\\". The Luce Foundation honored him as it’s 2015 Humanitarian of the Year. He also teaches a course on “Global Innovation and Commercialization” at the graduate business school at Cornell University and is a guest lecturer at Cornell NY Tech, MIT, NTU in Singapore, and KAUST in Saudi Arabia. The McGovern Family Center for Venture Development in Life Sciences at Cornell University was recently acclaimed as one of the Top 10 Venture Development Centers in North America.

Mr. McGovern served on the Board of the US Pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai and was appointed (only foreigner) to the Expo’s Post-Development Committee. He is also Vice Chairman of the Silver Shield Foundation, providing assistance to families of policemen and firemen who die in the line of duty in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. Mr. McGovern is the son of Thomas Edward McGovern from Fenagh in Leitrim County, Ireland.

Kevin Provost

Kevin Provost

CoFounder and COO, Greenhouse Ventures / CoFund 360

Kevin Provost is a Program and Developer, Startup Advisor, and Career Coach focused on collaborative business and technology models that improve Workforce, Education, and Capital opportunities for Small-Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) and student entrepreneurs.

As Founder of CoFund360, a network of curriculum-based business accelerators, Kevin and his team help reduce funding gaps for business owners in alternative industries and markets underserved by traditional venture capital firms. Entrepreneurs accepted into CoFund360 affiliated accelerators are positioned raise their first round of capital within 12-18 months after Demo Day - the culmination of every accelerator semester. CoFund360 is majority owner and primary operator of two accelerator properties: CoPhilly - The First Crowdfunding Accelerator in the World - and Greenhouse Ventures.

As CoFounder and COO of Greenhouse Ventures (GHV), Kevin and his team assist early-stage companies in the cannabis and industrial hemp industries with raising their first round of capital and building a sustainable business model. GHV currently accepts only ancillary startups (software, technology, hydroponics, growing equipment, paraphernalia, packaging) seeking up to $5,000,000 in seed or growth capital into a 90-hour 10-week program that culminates with a Demo Day to accredited investors.

Tahira Rehmatulah

Tahira Rehmatulah

,

Named by Fortune as one of the Most Powerful Women in the Cannabis Business, Tahira previously served as General Manager of Marley Natural, where she was responsible for launching the brand and managing day-to-day operations, and Investment Manager at Privateer Holdings. She now focuses on advising entrepreneurs and early stage venture leaders bring their ideas to life, utilizing her cannabis, startup, and finance experience. Tahira is particularly interested In assisting female leaders further develop in the cannabis industry and increasing diversity throughout organizations.

Prior to entering the cannabis industry, Tahira was a Portfolio Manager at City First Enterprises, focused on underwriting, structuring, and deal management for CFE’s community development and real estate investment portfolio. Prior to that, she was an associate at Perry Capital, leading research initiatives for the asset-backed securities team. Tahira began her career as a consultant in Ernst & Young’s Financial Services Advisory practice.

Marc Ross

Marc Ross

Marc J. Ross is a founding partner of Sichenzia Ross Friedman Ference LLP. Since the firm’s inception in 1998, Mr. Ross has headed SRFF’s Business Litigation and Arbitration Practice Group.

Mr. Ross regularly represents clients, whether business entities, officers, directors, or individuals, in federal and state courts across the country, from routine lawsuits to highly complex securities cases. Mr. Ross also regularly represents clients in arbitration proceedings before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), the American Arbitration Association and JAMS. And, Mr. Ross often counsels clients through the arduous process of civil regulatory and possibly criminal investigations, whether the client is the subject of an investigation by a self-regulatory organization (e.g., FINRA), a state agency (e.g., the NY Attorney General’s Office), or a federal agency (e.g., the US Securities and Exchange Commission or the US Attorneys’ Office).

Mr. Ross also specializes in advising marijuana and marijuana-related companies, and regularly speaks nationally on the legal issues associated with those matters. Mr. Ross teaches the first law school course on marijuana at Hofstra University School of Law titled Business and Law of Marijuana, where he introduces students to the rapidly-developing legal environment surrounding businesses in the marijuana space.

Background:

Prior to founding Sichenzia Ross Friedman Ference LLP, Mr. Ross was associated with several large and distinguished law firms, including Wilkie Farr & Gallagher. He graduated with distinction (top 10%) from Hofstra University School of Law in 1987, where he was an Associate Editor of Law Review and President of the Trial Advocacy Club. During law school, Mr. Ross received several awards for excellence, including the William F. Levine Scholarship Award from Hofstra University and an award from the American Trial Lawyers Association. Mr. Ross is licensed to appear before courts of the State of New York, the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern District of New York, and the United States Supreme Court.

Awards/Speaking Engagements:

Mr. Ross was honored as a Top Ten Lawyer for Chartis Insurance (now AIG) for excellence in legal services at the Annual Meeting of the Defense Research Institute held in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Ross has also spoken on many topics related to his litigation practice, including the ramifications of Sarbanes-Oxley and changes in the regulatory investigative environment.

Johnathan Rubin

Johnathan Rubin

CEO, Cannabis Benchmarks

Jonathan has nearly 25 years of business experience in regulated and unregulated markets, including 18 years as a management consultant advising on strategy, financing, acquisitions and post-merger integration. Over the past decade he directed the turn-around of the energy commodity analytics business acquired by Platts/McGraw-Hill Financial from The Financial Times; provided due diligence on the acquisition of a globally recognized commodity information service; and co-launched The Petrochemical Standard, a commodity pricing agency serving traders of petrochemical futures.

Jason Santos

Burn TV

Chariman and CEO

Steve Schain

Steve Schain

Counsel, Hoban and Feola

Steve practices marijuana law through national cannabis law firm Hoban and Feola. With 12 offices and 28 lawyers, Hoban and Feola is only practice 100% devoted to cannabis and hemp law. Admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Steve represents entities, governments and individuals in choosing a structure, preparing and submitting license application, regulation, compliance and litigation, and drafting legislation. Reach Steve at steve@hobanandfeola.com.

Shannon Soqui

Shannon Soqui

Partner, Head of Cannabis Investment Banking, Ackrell Capital

Shannon Soqui joined Ackrell Capital in 2015. Previously, Mr. Soqui was an investment banker for 15 years with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Credit Suisse, UBS, and Pacific Crest Securities. Mr. Soqui has completed over 100 financing transactions, including more than 25 initial public offerings, and more than 60 M&A transactions, totaling more than $10 billion in value. Mr. Soqui was also a securities lawyer with Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison and Gunderson Dettmer in Palo Alto and was a Certified Public Accountant with KPMG in San Jose. Mr. Soqui’s clients have included Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon.com, Data Domain, Drugstore.com, Force10 Networks, Freescale, MEMC Electronics, MetricStream, Netscape, Realtor.com, and VeriSign, among others. Mr. Soqui holds a B.A. in Economics with an emphasis in Accounting from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and a J.D., magna cum laude, from the Santa Clara University School of Law.

Eric Spitz

Eric Spitz

Managing Director, Mercury

Eric Spitz is a Managing Director in the Orange County, California office of Mercury Public Affairs. A former chairman and president of the Orange County Register, Spitz leverages twenty years of leadership experience to help clients solve high-stakes problems at the intersection of business, media and politics. In addition to serving Orange County clients in a variety of industries his national practice focuses on sports and cannabis policy.

Spitz led the purchase of Freedom Communications in July 2012, and served as the company’s President and Chairman until March 2016. Upon acquisition, the company’s portfolio included the Orange County Register and five other daily newspapers. Spitz led the financing and corporate development efforts for the company, including the sale of the non-core papers and the acquisition of the Riverside Press Enterprise.

From September 2008 to September 2011, Spitz served as Chief Financial Officer at Narragansett Brewing Company, where he helped revive the classic beer brand that had served as the official beer of the Boston Red Sox for more than 30 years. In 2015 the company sold one million cases throughout the East Coast.

Spitz has led a prodigious career as an inventor and entrepreneur, having launched several digital companies like Gazelle and Beerdog. From 2004 to September 2008, Spitz served as co-founder and President of UFood Restaurant Group, a concept that offers healthy food selections in airports, hospitals, health clubs and other high-traffic locations. As President, Spitz built the brand from scratch, developed strategic partnerships and created the expansion strategy that resulted in dramatic increases in revenue and new franchising opportunities.

In 1997, Spitz founded the sports technology company Trakus, which pioneered the emergence of digital information systems in the world of sports. Trakus’ platform formed the basis of dramatic new data gathering capabilities in hockey, golf, horse racing, auto racing and other sports. He served as CEO at Trakus through August 2004.

A prolific speaker and writer, Spitz has appeared frequently at investor conferences, business schools and industry events. He has also produced a Harvard Business School case https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/811028-PDF-ENG, a US patent and numerous op-ed pieces in the Orange County Register and the Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324139404579014512819717616 .

Spitz received an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at MIT, and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in Newport Beach with his wife and three daughters, who are striving daily to reassert the Spitz name in the annals of swimming lore.

Adam Stites

Mirth Provisions

Founder

Nicholas Vita

Nicholas Vita

Nicholas Vita, is a Co-Founder and currently serves as the Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Columbia Care, LLC, a New York-based company that operates one of the largest portfolios of highly regulated, state-licensed medical cannabis manufacturing facilities and dispensaries in the United States (NY, MA, AZ, DC, IL, CA). In addition, Mr. Vita serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Capital City Care and Capital City Cultivation, the first licensed medical cannabis dispensary and cultivation facilities in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Vita has over 25 years of experience serving in corporate leadership roles, investing capital, structuring and funding public/private partnerships, providing strategic advisory services to Fortune 500 companies and negotiating joint ventures and partnerships in the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America ranging in size and scope. Prior to founding Columbia Care, Nicholas was a Partner and served as the Chairman of the Investment Committee at Apelles Investment Management, LLC (“Apelles”), a private holding company for several New York-based investment funds that specialized in cross-capital structure, credit and stressed/distressed debt investing within the healthcare and military infrastructure sectors. Before joining Apelles, Mr. Vita was a General Partner, member of the investment committee, and the Portfolio Manager for the Healthcare Sector at ARX Investment Management, a multi-billion dollar global credit hedge fund. Previously, Mr. Vita worked in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Inc., as an Analyst, Associate and Vice President in the Healthcare Department focused on Mergers, Raid Defense and Corporate Finance. He began his career in investment banking at S.G.Warburg & Co., Inc., a United Kingdom based Merchant Bank.

Mr. Vita is currently a member of the Jamestown Foundation, the Federalist Society and GenNext. He sits on a number of corporate and not-for-profit boards including Street Soccer USA and received his A.B. from Columbia College, Columbia University where he was a member of the Men’s Varsity Heavyweight Crew Team and President of St. Anthony Hall.

Dooma Wendschuh

Dooma Wendschuh

Co-Founder and CEO, Province

Dooma Wendschuh is the Co-Founder and CEO of Province, a Toronto-based highly disruptive startup in Canada’s legal cannabis industry. Province’s products promise a better class of psychoactive, the first true alternative to alcohol. Following twenty-one speaking engagements, eight times on national television, and nearly fifty media appearances, Mr. Wendschuh has emerged as a leading voice in the burgeoning cannabis industry. He is known for advocating and helping bring about a new paradigm where top quality cannabinoid-derived products serve as a safer and healthier alternative to alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, and prescribed and illegal psychoactives.

Prior to founding Province, Mr. Wendschuh was the co-founder of a successful, well-known Colorado-based cannabinoid research and consumer products company which he ran for two and a half years. Before entering the cannabis industry, Mr. Wendschuh was co-founder and co-CEO of sekretagent Productions, Inc., a film and video game production company and advertising agency with offices in Los Angeles and Montreal. sekretagent is best known for its video game work, helping to develop and launch the wildly popular ASSASSIN\\\'S CREED franchise, and providing development and story services on BATMAN: ARKHAM ORIGINS, three games in the PRINCE OF PERSIA franchise, and many more. Collectively, sekretagent’s games grossed more than $3 billion worldwide. sekretagent’s advertising division created and produced award winning work for the Coca-Cola Company, General Motors, Polaroid, Diamond Resorts International, Mentos Mints, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and many others. Under Mr. Wendschuh’s leadership, sekretagent also sold eight motion pictures and one television series to major studios and produced THE PLAGUE for Sony Screengems.

Mr. Wendschuh graduated magna cum-laude from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and received his Masters from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema / Television Peter Stark Producing Program.

James Winokur

James Winokur

CO-FOUNDER and CEO, CannaKorp

James has been instrumental in developing the formal business plan, pro-forma, investor relations and early customer feedback process. He is responsible for the daily management and operations of the company.

For the past ten years, James served in a managerial capacity leading operational, marketing and business development teams at PTC, a global software technology company serving the manufacturing sector. He was most recently Senior Director managing an international team. His responsibilities included marketing content creation, demand generation, and services portfolio management for the company’s annual support renewal business, which accounted for $630 million of PTC’s $1.3 billion revenue.

After graduating from Boston College, James joined Culligan Water Technologies, a franchise business founded by his grandfather in the early 1960s. For the next 11 years, he served as Vice President and General Manager of several Culligan franchises throughout New England. In 1999, he sold his franchises to the parent company, Culligan International. In 2002, James earned his MBA from Boston College.